May, the city of God.

The messy battle situation on the Western Front spread to the city of God, causing the city to be shaken.

Who is Tao Mingwen?

He was just an illegitimate son of a salt merchant. He never thought that such a low-level figure could actually pull up an army of hundreds of thousands, and the so-called "Sky-Sky General" swept across the land of Xizhou, and the war burned all the way to the Luoshui River.

In addition to Tao Mingwen, there are "Dingxing" in the south and "Weihai" in the east. Within the four seas, bandits are everywhere and wars are everywhere.

Compared with the Wanping Rebellion a few years ago, the Qian and Yuan Dynasty today is in a more precarious situation.

But within the capital of the gods, the struggle between Yu Wenji, Rong Taiwei and Yang Ming still had no result.

I just heard that the Queen Mother Yan recently planned to promote Yu Wenji to "Sikong".

Sikong is a false position, but he is "above the three princes", which is commonly known as "the position of Shang Gong". If Yu Wenji adds the title of "Sikong" with the respect of the right prime minister, then Yu Wenji's status as the number one person in the dynasty will be confirmed.

Now, Lieutenant Rong and General Yang Ming will both bow to him.

As soon as this news came out, the already undercurrent in the court became even more turbulent.

Obviously the external environment has become so bad, but in the capital of the gods, there is still a peaceful scene of singing and dancing, and a warm breeze is gradually blowing.

Except for some knowledgeable people, most people believe that the East and West Borders are still safe and sound, so even if there is chaos outside, at least "China" will not be in chaos.

And as long as "the state of China is not in chaos," then the capital of China will not be in chaos, and the imperial court will not be in chaos.

At this time, Cao Su was sending a memorial about Li Xingxi's turmoil to the court.

The locust flowers in the divine capital were in bloom, and the young eunuch hurriedly walked through the palace and delivered the memorial to the study.

Wen You, who is already eleven years old, is known as "Xiao Zong" in history. When he was young, he had a gentle temper, few words, and always had great ambitions. Now that he has been the emperor for more than a year, his demeanor has become more calm, and he has lost the temperament that a teenager of the same age should have.

Childish.

However, "Xiaozong" has not yet reached the time to take charge of the government personally, and all the power of the government is under the control of a few ministers and the Queen Mother of Yan.

For example, urgent secret reports from Cao Su would be handed over to Yu Wenji for reading first.

In the study room on this day, Wen You was sitting in the main seat, and the new eunuch Xun Zhi stood beside him. The other ministers were standing under the steps, because the right prime minister Yu Wenji was old.

, so he was given a special "seat", and Yu Wenji also sat there, objectively showing that he was different from others.

"Everyone, Cao Su's military report."

It is also related to military affairs. I don’t know how many similar memorials there have been during this period of time.

Yang Ming looked at the memorial in Yu Wenji's hand and felt a little angry.

In the past, Cao Su would talk to him first.

Now I'm fine, I can't even breathe anymore, so I sent a memorial directly to the palace.

"Hey" he sighed slightly. In the previous battle between Cao Su and Yun Zhengxin, he did not provide enough support, which caused the relationship between him and Cao Su to suddenly become less close. With the departure of Wang Meng and Wei Kai

, all seem to mean that the Qin Hu faction is gradually drifting away from him.

Yu Wenji said in a deep voice: "Nowadays, bandits are burning and looting everywhere in the east, west, south, and north. How do you think we can quell these bandits?"

"The banditry is unjust, and this dynasty is insecure."

Lieutenant Rong was full of anger and said to everyone with a cold eyebrow: "In my opinion, the imperial army of the city of God is idle if it is idle, so it is better to send it out to suppress the bandits."

"How to suppress bandits? After so many years, don't you understand? We suppressed more and more bandits in the Qian and Yuan Dynasties, and suppressed more and more." As soon as Rong Taiwei finished speaking, Yang Ming sneered angrily.

He was telling the truth. Over the past few years, the banditry has not subsided at all. On the contrary, more and more people have been suppressed.

The reason is that the imperial court is not good enough, the country's class contradictions are too sharp, the society's voice and willingness to redistribute wealth are too high, and the imperial court is not the only one to control the force. The decline in dominance has led to the increasing cost of rebellion.

The lower.

Of course, Yang Ming didn't understand this, but it was indeed a fact that "the more we suppressed, the more we suppressed."

Lieutenant Rong didn't look very good after Yang Ming spoke so hard.

Privately, he had an "alliance" with Yang Ming, but it was shown in court that the two had always had political opinions that did not deal with each other, which was used to paralyze Yu Wenji's judgment.

Yu Wenji thought that Rong Taiwei and Yang Ming were at odds, so he felt like he had control of the overall situation.

Especially after the left prime minister Ouyang Zeng retired, the power of the court was almost in his hands.

This feeling of power being held by literati has never happened before in the entire history.

Yu Wenji began to substantially control the military power of Shendu. After several rounds of screening and tailoring by him, the original Eighth School Lieutenant's imperial army has now basically become "minions" who obey his orders. Lieutenant Rong and Yang Ming

, one of them was called "Taiwei" and the other was called "General". As a result, neither of them had as much military power as Yu Wenyi in Shendu, and their right to speak became less and less.

This time, Lieutenant Rong proposed to use "forbidden troops to suppress bandits". The essential meaning was to challenge Yu Wenji's authority.

Sitting in front of the emperor, Yu Wenji kept his eyes closed with the old god present.

Although the emperor was calm, after all, he was only an eleven-year-old child. When he saw two red-faced adults arguing in front of him, he instinctively felt a little scared.

"General, how do you think about quelling the banditry?"

Lieutenant Rong sneered and insisted on asking the "general" to come up with a detailed plan.

Yang Ming was also not to be outdone: "To quell banditry, of course, we must solve the fundamental problem. In my opinion, our dynasty has gone through a cold winter, many places are in the farming period, and many people have no land and food, so we have to do it as a last resort."

Bandits, it is better to use work-for-relief projects in various places and release some food from the granaries to alleviate the people's urgent needs."

The last thing a general proposed was a "farmland strategy", and the so-called "relief with work" actually made Yu Wenji's eyes brighten in the high hall.

Yu Wenji suddenly opened his eyes and spoke slowly: "What does the general mean by 'relief with work'?"

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Yu Wenji opened his mouth, and naturally everyone could not continue talking.

When Yang Ming heard Yu Wenji's question, he said calmly: "Last year, the grain fields in Youzhou Prefecture had a good harvest. This is what Cao Su adopted, using work instead of relief."

Yang Ming only knew a little bit about it and couldn't explain why.

Cao Su's "work-for-relief" approach provided substantial benefits.

All those who work on Cao Su's land, whether they are common people or soldiers, will get 70% of the future harvest, while the government will only have 30%. By benefiting the people, everyone's enthusiasm for work will be stimulated.

But Yang Ming and the others did not know these details. They only knew that Cao Su was hoarding troops and building the city with great success. It seemed that no matter what he did, everything went smoothly, which is puzzling.

Cao Su only followed the basic policy of "hiding wealth among the people", but the court was unable to use his method.

Because what the court needs now is not "hidden wealth" but "stability", and "stability" happens to be something that cannot be achieved in a short period of time, so there is a paradox that is difficult to achieve at all.

After listening to Yang Ming's words, Yu Wenji thought about it silently, and finally ignored this link and still focused on the looting from various places.

"The imperial court's tax revenue was not high last year. Although it has reduced a lot of the imperial army, it still has a lot of military expenditures."

"There should be priorities for banditry in various places. In addition to continuing to follow the policy of 'preparing for defense in various places' set by the late emperor, we should also recruit and select capable young generals. There is no need to worry about having a few more young generals like Cao Su.

Why is the world unfair?"

Yu Wenji spoke slowly. His opinion focused on "talent leadership."

He believes that "man can conquer nature" and talent is the main theme of competition.

This is not a big problem, but in the current situation of the imperial court, where can you find any good young generals? And even if you can find them, can you guarantee that these young generals will be as loyal and loyal as Cao Su?

?

So this is where Yu Wenji is worried.

"You still need to think carefully about this matter. That kid Tao Mingwen is really a bit arrogant. We must not let him cross the Luoshui River, otherwise 'the gods will be in danger'!"

Yu Wenji set the final tone for this negotiation.

By the time he finished speaking, there was no objection in the imperial study room.

It was not until the end that the childish little emperor Wen You followed Yu Wenji's words: "Everything must be obeyed by the right prime minister."

When the emperor opened his mouth, it was tantamount to setting a legal framework for this matter.

After the discussion, Yu Wenji issued an order to select young generals from among the three armies. As the main force against Tao Mingwen this time, if the young generals can defeat Tao Mingwen, they can be promoted to the third level and receive a royal commission.

Secret treasure.

For a time, the eyes of many frustrated young generals in the divine capital shone brightly, and they were gearing up to show their strength in the upcoming selection competition.

——

Lieutenant Rong and Yang Ming walked out of the palace with their own people.

The two of them walked silently, as if they were mortal enemies. The tense atmosphere made both sides feel a little suffocated, and many soldiers' palms became sweaty.

Fortunately, the two officials were very restrained in the end, and after leaving the palace, they parted ways and returned to their respective homes.

Lieutenant Rong was already old and heavy. Eight people carried him in a sedan chair and arduously drove him towards his mansion.

As soon as he stepped into the mansion, a young man in brocade clothes greeted him.

"Father."

The young man in gilded clothes is Rong Sheng, the most outstanding son of Taiwei Rong. Rong Sheng has a good reputation in the Imperial Academy. He is a kind-hearted and majestic man. He has been known to be talented in both literature, Taoism and military strategy since he was young.

Rongsheng greeted the Taiwei, and they walked side by side to the inner hall.

"Father, a letter from the south."
To be continued...